The present invention relates to an arrangement for the placement of the drive machine of a people mover, such as a transport conveyor, for example a pallet conveyor or belt conveyor or equivalent, the drive machine comprising actuating elements at least for moving the conveyor and handrail of the people mover.
Transport conveyors, like escalators, are transport devices designed to move people or goods. They differ from escalators, for example, in that they are often operated in a substantially horizontal position or in a position somewhat inclined relative to their direction of motion. Such a transport conveyor has successive steps, that is pallets that form a substantially even and linear track instead of stair-like steps as in the case of escalators. Instead of successive steps, transport conveyors may also have a continuous belt, in which case the transport conveyor resembles a belt conveyor. Transport conveyors are also called moving walkways and auto-walks.
In known transport conveyors, the structure is embedded in the ground or in the floor of the building. The machinery structures in such known transport conveyors are generally placed at one end of the pallet track or conveyor or also between steps. In this case, a pit about one meter deep and several meters long is provided at each end of the transport conveyor for the drive machinery of the transport conveyor structure and for the mechanism turning the pallets. A drawback with this type of transport conveyor construction is that it requires heavy and fixed structures in the floor of the surrounding space and these have to be taken into account when the buildings are being designed. A further drawback is that, for maintenance of the machinery structure, it is necessary to open access doors located at the floor level or to partially dismantle the pallets serving as steps, and thus maintenance and repairs involve a great deal of extra work and even safety risks. A further drawback is that transferring fixed structures like this from one place to another according to changing traffic needs is completely impossible.
When the aim is to achieve flat transport conveyor structures, the machinery easily becomes a decisive factor in respect of dimensions when prior-art machines and machine placements are used.
In British patent specification No. GB2299316, FIG. 1/3 presents a structure of the above-described type as an example of prior art, in which the machinery including pallet turning equipment is placed in a pit at the end of the pallet track.
A further problem with known transport conveyors is that the passenger has to step onto the transport conveyor from one end of the conveyor and likewise to leave the conveyor from the other end, because the hand rails on either side prevent passengers from stepping onto the conveyor from a lateral direction and from leaving it in a lateral direction along the length of the transport conveyor. Persons traveling on the transport conveyor find the long access distances uncomfortable. To serve business and passenger flow access areas located laterally from transport conveyors, a fairly large space has to be reserved beside the transport conveyors because basically prior-art transport conveyors only serve persons who step onto the transport conveyor from its entry end. For long transport distances, it is often necessary to build several short successive transport conveyors to ensure that the distance to be walked to access the transport conveyor remains reasonable. This generally leads to higher costs than if a single transport conveyor extending through the entire transport distance were built.